A game that sees both players performing at a 100% accuracy rate can only end in splitting the point. After 42 hard-fought moves, the champion, Ding Liren, and the challenger, Gukesh D, agreed to a draw after a clear three-fold repetition in a rook ending, leaving the match score tied 2-2 after four games.
The champion was quite content with his play: "Yesterday I had a rest day to recover from the tough loss, and today I was in a very good mood. I tried to surprise my opponent, and it worked well, but the advantage was very small. He was able to neutralize my initiative and the game was balanced."
For the challenger, a draw with Black is a very good result: "It wasn't a completely new line for me, although it was a bit of a surprise. I was playing over the board from early on. I think I reacted well enough, neutralizing his edge. It was a solid game, and even towards the end, I had some chances to press better. With Black, it's all you can expect in a match.
Both players arrived at the board a few minutes before 5 pm, sporting matching dark suits. After the customary handshake, the master of ceremonies introduced GM's Xie Jun and Vishy Anand, both of them world champions, FIDE officials, and trailblazers in their countries, representing two of the world's chess superpowers - China and India.
Four-time Women's World Chess Champion, Xie Jun, was the first Asian woman to become a chess grandmaster. FIDE Vice-President and current president of the Chinese Chess Association, she was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame in 2019. Xie Jun performed the ceremonial opening move White.
Opening the game for Black, five-time World Chess Champion and two-time World Cup winner Viswanathan Anand is the father of the Indian chess boom. He became the first Indian grandmaster in 1988 and was elected deputy president of FIDE in 2022.
With the game in progress, Ding Liren opened with one of his go-to main moves 1.Nf3. In the commentary booth, IM Jovanka Houska was already quite excited "We did see the distinguished guests open up with 1.d4 d5, but that's actually not what's been played: instead Ding Liren opening with the knight! I was suggesting this at lunch as a good attempt to mix things up".
Gukesh quickly replied with 1…d5 and was immediately thrown off by Ding's second and third moves, 2.e3 and 3.b3, the Zukertort Opening, classified under the flank systems. Ding had only played this move on a couple of occasions in the past in rapid games – to put things into perspective, he has more than 1000 games with White in the databases.
Gukesh correctly opted to go into the tank for a few minutes and came up with a very solid London system setup.
Meanwhile, Ding swiftly left the board to get a bottle of water from his lounge, to immediately return and focus. Commentator GM David Howell observed, "You are essentially playing a Queen's Indian defense but with the white pieces. It's a very well-known opening, and Ding will be playing with an extra tempo. Psychologically, that could be difficult".
The battle for the control over the position took an interesting turn after Ding Liren's 5.Ba3, a move that has hardly been played at the highest level. "I have seen this sneaky idea before, but I'm not sure if it's this exact position. White is trying to exchange the bishops and take away his opponent's castling rights" confirmed Howell in the booth.
GM Vidit, Gukesh's elite teammate from India, tweeted about the opening: "I had the same position/opening as in Ding-Gukesh in 2022 against Hans Niemann. My feeling was that it's not really dangerous for Black and the play is quite easy..."
But Gukesh was on his game, figured out the idea, and neutralized it easily. "Ding isn't trying to play the most ambitious chess – he's just trying to keep the game alive, avoid preparation, and go for an unorthodox position," both commentators agreed.
Gukesh followed along the lines of a 2021 rapid game between elite GM's Wesley So and Anish Giri. At the end of the opening, he seemed to have equalized comfortably, albeit with most of the pieces on the board. Notwithstanding, it did seem that White's position was easier to handle. Contrary to the previous three games, today both players managed the clock adequately and went neck-to-neck for the most part of the game.
Put yourself in Ding Liren's shoes. Would you play 14.f4, pushing back the knight and starting an attack or 14.a4, increasing your space advantage on the queenside?
Ding opted for the latter, with an advantage on the queenside. Gukesh clarified that he wanted his opponent to play 14.f4 because he thought that later on, he could take advantage of the weaknesses on the e-file. Very deep indeed!
Former Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk joined the broadcast going into the middlegame. Asked about her impressions of the match, she replied, "I have a slight feeling of dissatisfaction in a way because in the first and third game, you could sense the momentum rising, and then the tension was released too fast. We didn't get to see the real fight that we were waiting for. I am rooting for chess, and I'd like to see the tension until the very last pawn, complicated middlegames, and interesting endgames, but I'm sure they will come: the players are still warming up, it's a long match".
On move fifteen, Gukesh finally pushed his b7 pawn to b6 – an important moment in the game as this pawn was the only piece of the sixty-four that still hadn't been moved. "The next few moves will be critical in deciding the outcome of the game," were Kosteniuk's final words.
Another former Women's World Champion, Susan Polgar, also chimed in on X: "Ding's game strategy is simple. He wants to take Gukesh off his excellent home preparation. This forces Gukesh to spend a lot of time on the board to come up with the right ideas/moves/plans. Ding believes that Gukesh is more vulnerable when he is out of preparation and low on time".
Around move sixteen, engines suggested some interesting lines to keep fighting for the initiative, but Ding Liren didn't find clarity and went for simplifications. The game soon fizzled out to a queen and rook ending, which the opponents played perfectly. Already, the game was heading for a draw quite soon; the 40-move rule doesn't allow to share the point unless there is a three-fold repetition, which occurred on move 42.
The fifth game of the match is scheduled for Saturday, November 30, at 5 PM local time in Singapore, with Gukesh D playing White.
FACT SHEET, Game 4, FIDE World Championship:
White: Ding Liren
Black: Gukesh D
Result: 0.5-0.5
Game length: 52 moves
Opening: Zukertort opening
Match score: 2-2
Written by IM Michael Rahal (Singapore)
Photos: Eng Chin An and Maria Emelianova
Official website: worldchampionship.fide.com/
Full programme of side-events: worldchampionship.fide.com/events
About the event
Current World Champion Ding Liren, representing China, and challenger Gukesh D, from India, will face each other in a fourteen-game classical chess match. The player who scores 7.5 points or more will win the match, picking up the better part of the $2.5 million total prize fund.
The first of the fourteen scheduled games will take place on Monday, November 25 at 5 pm. Gukesh will open with White. The match will be hosted at the luxurious Resorts World Sentosa and will be broadcasted live with expert commentary on the FIDE YouTube Channel.